Masterpieces from the great museums of Russia currently hang in the Royal Academy for the blockbuster exhibition From Russia. Now Britain is to return the favour, lending 110 works by JMW Turner for a ground-breaking exhibition in Moscow.

The Pushkin Museum will house the exhibition of 40 oil paintings and 70 works on paper from November until the following March. The works will be lent by Tate Britain, home of the Turner Bequest, and highlights will include the glorious Norham Castle, Sunrise (1845).

The exhibition is to be sponsored by the Uzbek-born oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is Arsenal football club's second biggest shareholder. His foundation has previously supported a Whistler exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The Turner exhibition was announced in Moscow yesterday at a time of strained relations between Britain and Russia, particularly in light of accusations of intimidation of British Council staff by the Russian security service.

The Moscow office of the British Council has been aiding negotiations between the London and Moscow museums for the exhibition. Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain, said: "We work independently of the political context as far as possible, and in many ways this has been a conventional negotiation between two museums. The British Council has been very supportive and the political side has not had any impact. I am very pleased that this can go ahead despite local difficulties."

James Kennedy, head of the British Council office in Moscow, said: "We are not working in easy conditions - but this is an example of something positive that is going ahead."

Deuchar said the exhibition "has not been the result of a particular political initiative; nor have we needed any particular political support to solve any problems. From Tate Britain's point of view our ambition is for Turner to be seen and recognised better, and the Pushkin Museum has a similar ambition. If in so doing we happen to improve diplomatic relations, that would be a delightful and desirable side effect."

Turner's work has not been seen in any quantity in Moscow since an exhibition at the Pushkin in the 1970s. "For a younger generation Turner is simply someone from the history books," said Deuchar. "Turner's significance is not just in terms of his cultural impact on Britain but his impact way beyond British culture. He was a great European artist and it is essential for him to be seen outside Britain."